APPLE-BLOSSOM LUNCHEON.--For this use blossoms which are but half blown. Place branches of them in glass bottles full of water and fasten with wires to the backs of the pictures in the dining-room. The sideboard should be covered with great branches put in tall cut-glass vases and low silver bowls; the mantel banked, and in the corners of the room tall Japanese jars filled with great spraying branches. In the centre of the table may be placed a vase filled with pure white cherry blossoms. The candlesticks should be shaded with white and silver. Back of a screen at each end of the room a lamp may be set to give a brilliant light to the flowers on the wall, without the glare of the lamp being visible.
PANSY LUNCHEON.--A pretty and an original way to decorate a table with pansies when one has quantities of these flowers is to place in the centre of the table upon a glass salver an old-fashioned glass fruit-bowl on a pedestal. Fill the fruit-bowl and salver with white cornmeal which has been well soaked in cold water, and in this insert the pansy stems. They should be placed as thickly as possible. Around the outer edge of the salver have a border of maidenhair fern. An oblong glass dish arranged in a similar manner may be placed at each end of the table. If desired little dishes arranged in the same way may also be used.
"RAINY-DAY LUNCHEON."--This is certainly an original idea. Place an old umbrella frame vertically in a fernery and twist smilax around the frame and down each spoke. At the base of the fernery make a bed of violets as large around in circumference as the umbrella. At the luncheon hour hide a small lump of ice in the smilax at the end of each spoke, allowing it to melt and drip on the violets. This makes a pretty decoration for a luncheon, particularly if wild violets can be procured.
When the guests have assembled, each one is given a tiny flower-pot. These are easily made out of red paper--a long strip and a round, with the aid of the mucilage pot. In these tiny pots the following list of flowers to be guessed is tucked away:
2. The pulse of the business world. (Stocks)
4. A bird and a riding accessory. (Larkspur)
5. A pillar of a building and a syllable that rhymes with dine. (Columbine)